Carmen: The Opera

          The night I returned from language camp, my host mother surprised me with tickets to the opera Carmen. Although I was exhausted from a day of traveling, I have learned to never turn down an opportunity! And I thrilled I decided to go with her! The Opera was in an outdoor ampitheater similar to Colorado's own Red Rocks Ampitheater.

 

     I expected the show to be in German, and so I knew I wouldn't be able to understand the whole thing. As it turns out, the setting was Spain, and I was hopeful that I could use my Spanish knowledge to follow the play. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that everyone was singing in French. So at least my host mom couldn't understand it either! The weather was chilly that night and it got very windy. But the stage had several cool light effects and used a lot of fire, so I was distracted from the cold! My favorite part of the night was the intermission between the 2nd and 3rd acts. Some of the flamenco dancers from the opera and a classical guitarist set up on a small stage and started dancing. The other dancers made drums out of their hands, and the guitarist was very talented. I snuck up to the front of the stage and took thousands of pictures. I loved photographing the dancers because their passion for flamenco was so clearly written on their faces.

 

 

 



Language Camp at Altmünster

       After my first week in Austria, we packed up the car and headed to Lake Traunsee for a two week language course with all of the other Rotary Youth Exchange students in Austria. In all, there were around 75 kids there. We spent morning, day, and night together and became incredibly close. I learned a lot of German, and I also practiced my Spanish quite a bit while I was there. The camp definitely made me more confident in my German skills, and I am looking forward to using what I have learned with my family and friends.
       Although it rained several evenings, the days were hot and beautiful. It got so warm on some days that afternoon classes got cancelled and we could spend some time down by the lake. The water was freezing, but very refreshing on a hot day! There was also internet and ice cream down by the lake, so several of us gathered together and worked on our tans!

 

On Saturday, we all piled into a tour bus and drove for about an hour to the small town of Hallstatt. There we took a tour of the famous salt mine! We went through the mine in really attractive outfits and took slides to get to the bottom. This mine has been supplying Austria with salt for hundreds of years!

 

 

After the mine, we had a few hours to tour the beautiful town of Hallstatt! We wander through the streets, ate some ice cream and took thousands of pictures!

 

 

There was a museum there with skulls inside from hundereds of years ago. The feeling was sort of eerie, but it felt like I was looking into the past. It was so incredible to stare face to face with what once was a human being. It was easy to let my imagination wander, and wonder about what kind of life this person might have had.



 

We all went on a "small walk" as the Rotarians called it. It ended up being a pretty legit hike uphill for some better views of lake Traunsee. All of the rebounds (exchange students who have returned home to Austria) came with us, and we took several group photos. I reunited with Elisa, the Austrian girl who came to my district last year. She is the person who inspired me to come to Austria in the first place, and it was really nice to see a familiar face.

 

I made some very close friends at language camp, and it was hard to say goodbye. Some of my closest friends are living in/near Vienna, so I will see them often. And the others I will see at are next Rotary meeting in September. I am so fortunate to have made so many close friends. It is nice to have someone to trust in such a foreign world!

 





First Impressions Report

            So many things are different and odd for me in this foreign world, I don’t know where to begin. I have come to accept the fact that I am a Auslander (foreigner) and I am going to embarrass myself time and time again throughout this coming year. I use the wrong soap, and my entire family laughs. I don’t know which spoon I should use. How in the world do these toilettes work? Wait that egg isn’t completely boiled? Oh good thing I just cracked it open! These instances of total confusion occur often for me, and I just have to shrug and laugh off the embarrassment.

            An initial thought for me was that everything is smaller here. Everything from lampposts and stoplights to spoons and trashcans are of smaller proportion. Even the cars are smaller. I have decided this is to accommodate the insane driving here. People fly all over the streets without any sense of all the cars around them. And somehow it plays out a beautifully choreographed yet chaotic traffic scene. I am thrilled that I am not allowed to drive here. I don’t know if I could handle it!

            My next realization about the coming year arose around my second meal time. I am going to be real fat. No doubt about it. Almost every meal here involves butter, sugar, or something fried. I have noticed that for breakfast, I should eat as much as I can because lunch doesn’t come until late afternoon. So my typical breakfast has become a poached egg, toast with jam or peanut butter, yogurt, and the occasional bowl of European cereal.

 

         

Dessert is always served with lunch, which has become my favorite meal of the day. My lunches range from paninis and pasta to soup and knudle (dumplings). The food at language camp was not so good, and we made common ‘second lunch’ trips to the local Chinese restaurant and pizza place. Dinner is usually not served until 8 or 9 at night, and is not very big. For example last night, I had tomato and cucumber salad, bread, and cantaloupe. With every meal I usually drink water or milk. No drinks here have ice in them. Actually, ice cubes don’t even exist. Ausrians are big fans of sparkling water, and if you order water at a restaurant you have to ask for it to be non-sparkling. Austria is famous for its apple juice. So at restaurants I usually order Apfelsäft spritzer (apple juice with sparkling water). Eating at restaurants is also different. There is never any rush. Often we wait an hour or two before even asking for the check. No one is trying to wrangle you out of the restaurant. Also, the waiters carry money with them and have a handheld electronic menu. So when you are finished they create the bill right there and you pay them then. It is very efficient.

            Vienna is a beautiful city. If a building isn’t two hundred years old, it is constructed to look like it is. In Vienna, I have discovered the world’s most classy Burger King. It is in a two hundred year old dance hall, with painted ceilings and gold columns. Everything seems so much more sophisticated this way. My first week here, I was touring the city with my host siblings and we decided to stop and have lunch on this fountain. I don’t think I will ever stop being amazed by the views.

Our Lunch Spot By the Fountain

 

            Everything is only a ten minute walk away in the city. The convenience of being so close to so many opportunities is new for me. I am excited to use my independence to explore the city and take care of myself. The music and arts in Vienna are unreal. I have already been to several art exhibitions, and the opera. I have seen street performers and flamenco dancers. And I am already totally thrilled about collecting all the art from this city and using it in my music and photography. I know this city holds many adventures for me, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here.